Argentina are unbeaten in all four of their previous meetings with Saudi Arabia (W2 D2), with this the first meeting between the sides at the Fifa World Cup.
Argentina have qualified for their 18th Fifa World Cup, with Qatar 2022 being their 13th participation in a row, the third-longest current run after Brazil (22) and Germany (18). Since 1978, only Germany (5) have reached the final of the tournament on more occasions than Argentina (4).
Winners in 1978 and 1986, Argentina are one of three South American teams to have lifted the Fifa World Cup trophy, alongside Brazil (5 times) and Uruguay (2 times).
Argentina have made it past the first round in 12 of their last 13 World Cup appearances, the only exception coming in 2002.
Argentina have lost three of their last five matches at the World Cup (W1 D1), as many as in their previous 24 combined (W16 D5). They lost two games at the 2018 edition (0-3 v Croatia, 3-4 v France), the first time they’d lost multiple games in a single tournament since 1994.
This will be Saudi Arabia’s sixth Fifa World Cup tournament. These appearances have taken place in the last eight editions of the competition, only failing to qualify in 2010 and 2014.
Saudi Arabia have won only three of their 16 matches at the Fifa World Cup (D2 L11). They’ve also kept only one clean sheet in those 16 outings, beating Belgium 1-0 in 1994.
36 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s goals at the Fifa World Cup have been scored from the penalty spot (4 out of 11), a higher ratio than any of the teams at this year’s tournament.
All six of Lionel Messi’s goals at the Fifa World Cup have been scored in the group stages, never finding the net in 756 minutes of play in the knockout phase of the tournament. Meanwhile, Messi is also the only player to have registered an assist at each of the last four World Cup tournaments.
Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni, who made one Fifa World Cup appearance for the nation as a player in 2006, led La Albiceleste to the 2021 Copa América title. No manager has ever won both the Copa América and the Fifa World Cup in charge of Argentina.
Saudi Arabia’s Saleh Al Shehri was joint-top scorer of the AFC third round qualifiers for Qatar 2022 with four goals (level with five others), with the striker netting with all four of his shots on target.
Saudi Arabia manager Hervé Renard has previously managed at the Fifa World Cup, leading Morocco to the 2018 edition, although his side were unable to progress past the group stage and failed to win a single game (D1 L2).